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New U.N. Chief Promises Reforms but Says He Won't Cut Jobs

Secretary General Kofi Annan, who took office last week under intense American pressure to reform the United Nations, told the organization's staff today that he planned to decentralize power but not slash jobs.

''Arbitrary staff cuts that weaken essential capabilities'' do not improve the organization, he said.

''Sometimes, it must seem that the United Nations does nothing but reform,'' Mr. Annan told staff members gathered in the General Assembly hall and those watching or listening worldwide. ''What we have to do now is not undertake more half-measures or rush to embrace new changes. We must take stock. We must look at ourselves from top to bottom, so that this time we can use reform as a tool to make this organization more effective and successful.''

Although Mr. Annan, who is from Ghana, has been in office for only a week, he has begun to create an atmosphere that will not only make speaking out easier for officials but will also encourage administrators to deal swiftly with employees against whom serious charges of misconduct have been made.

Turning in his speech today to the nearly bankrupt state of the organization, Mr. Annan, who has taken strong positions on the moral obligations of the United Nations, said money cannot be saved at the expense of lives.

''It is not reform, when for lack of funds we have to turn our backs on massacres and suffering and the collapse of civil society,'' Mr. Annan said, a reference to the organization's financial difficulties, caused in large part by members' failures to pay their assessed contributions. The United States is the biggest debtor, owing about $1.3 billion.

Officials will watch to see how his approach to change in the organization will play in Washington, where the Clinton Administration wants to show Congress quick results and hard evidence that the United Nations is slimming down under Mr. Annan's leadership.

Congress has not only withheld funds, but has also attached certification procedures to disbursements. At the moment, a payment of $100 million, already authorized, is awaiting State Department certification that the United Nations is staying within its no-growth budget. Other money ready for disbursement is being held up by demands that the Administration certify progress in the inspector general's office.

Mr. Annan is to visit Washington on Jan. 23 and 24 at the invitation of the White House. On that visit he is expected to address the National Press Club and meet with some members of Congress. Senator Jesse Helms, the North Carolina Republican who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has invited Mr. Annan to meet committee members over coffee.

In his speech today, interrupted by applause on several occasions, Mr. Annan said the United Nations ''cannot be expected to move forward if it is dragged down by unpaid dues.'' He also described some criticism leveled at the organization as ''misinformation and disinformation.''

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Mr. Annan let it be known this week that he pronounces his name to rhyme with ''cannon.'' In his years at the United Nations, his name has been widely pronounced like ''anon.''

His address to the United Nations' staff followed some orders aimed at opening up the bureaucracy he has served for more than 30 years and involve more officials in decision-making. The Secretary General began the year with a call for the resignation of all high-level officials, so that he can begin building a new team that is expected to combine old and new faces.

In a memo to department heads, Mr. Annan said they will be included in future meetings he holds with high government officials and delegates to the United Nations when those meetings cover topics within an official's area of responsibility.

This is a break from the preference that Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Mr. Annan's predecessor, had for secretive tete-a-tetes, especially with government leaders. Mr. Boutros-Ghali also brought a personal note-taker, so that the record of the meetings was always written by his office. Mr. Annan is asking department heads to bring their note-takers, who will write the records.

All heads of departments are being asked to report to each other on meetings they hold with high government officials so that information will begin to flow horizontally within the system. In the past, reports moved only upward to the Secretary General's office, with little information coming down the chain of command or circulating among departments. Now, all department heads will meet with the Secretary General or a senior Under Secretary General once a week.

Today his spokesman, Frederic Eckhard, said Mr. Annan had spoken with the head of the Vienna-based United Nations narcotics control program about reports that Mohamed Tidyane Bangoura of Guinea, who was working for the program in Africa, had been charged with sexual harassment, nepotism and financial irregularities.

The Secretary General asked that Mr. Bangoura, who denies the charges, be moved out of his office before the expiration of his contract at the end of this month. A decision had already been made not to renew the contract.

A new chief of personnel has been assigned to the International War Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda. The official, Mario Cianci, who holds American and Italian citizenship, said today that he expected to leave for the tribunal's headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, next week. He had earlier worked in Central America and Middle East.

''I can guarantee that I will do my best to resolve the problems that exist,'' Mr. Ciani said. ''We want this tribunal to succeed.''

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A version of this article appears in print on January 10, 1997, on Page A00011 of the National edition with the headline: New U.N. Chief Promises Reforms but Says He Won't Cut Jobs. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe